Afghan detainees

Documents reveal federal officials worried about accuracy of Conservatives’ position on Afghan jail conditions

The questions about detainee treatment have to do with the government, not soldiers

After months of delays and reviews, Tories reportedly set to make records public

Amrullah Saleh was head of Afghanistan’s secret police, the NDS, during the time that Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin alleges detainees transferred to the NDS by Canadian Forces were tortured.

Cancel my initial reaction. I think the NDP and this Globe story have it wrong, too. The deal struck yesterday between the government and the Opposition — two of the three opposition parties, that is — providing for disclosure to members of Parliament of previously secret documents related to the transfer of Afghan detainees, strikes me, on closer reading, as acceptable, and in keeping with the Speaker’s ruling on the matter.

No one is asking Harper to break the law. The conflict he’s complaining about exists only in his head.

I think those who expected the government to answer the Speaker’s ruling on the detainee documents with a Nixonian jihad must now start recalibrating. Can I appeal to fellow chattering-class types to start getting used to the way apparent reversals for the Conservatives turn very, very quickly into opportunities to divide and confuse the Opposition?

How the House Afghanistan committee can avoid becoming a “leaky sieve”

Paul Wells on why Stephen Harper would rather fight an election on the detainee documents than concede

The people speak

For Peter MacKay, the Afghan file is just the latest test of loyalty

The interesting question of how the Geneva Conventions apply to detainees taken by Canadian troops in Kandahar and then handed over to Afghan authorities is the subject of this post by colleague Wherry.